Outdoor working automating system

ABSTRACT

An outdoor working automating system includes a rice reaper having a position detecting unit for detecting a position by receiving radio waves from a GPS satellite and a control unit for controlling the position of the rice reaper so that the position traces predetermined route data, and a rice transplanter having a position detecting unit for detecting a position by receiving radio waves from the GPS satellite and a memory for storing the detected position. The outdoor working automating system causes the memory to store a route that the rice transplanter takes during rice transplanting, and causes the rice reaper to perform rice reaping automatically by using the position data stored in the memory as the route data of the rice reaper.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an outdoor working automating systemcapable of realizing unattended, laborsaving outdoor working inagriculture or forestry.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, outdoor practices of farm working, such as ricetransplanting and rice reaping, have been cumbersome practices forfarmers.

A demand has therefore arisen for a system capable of reducing such farmpractices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an outdoor workingautomating system capable of realizing unattended, laborsaving outdoorworking in agriculture or forestry, thereby reducing outdoor practicesin agriculture or forestry.

According to the present invention, there is provided an outdoor workingautomating system comprising a rice reaper including position detectingmeans for detecting a current position, and control means forcontrolling the position of the rice reaper so that the current positiondetected by the position detecting means traces predetermined routedata, a rice transplanter including position detecting means fordetecting a current position, and storage means for storing the currentposition detected by the position detecting means, and means for causingthe external storage means to store a route that the rice transplantertakes in rice transplanting, and causing the rice reaper to perform ricereaping automatically by using the position data stored in the storagemeans as the route data of the rice reaper.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectsand advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means ofthe instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate presently preferred embodiments ofthe invention and, together with the general description given above andthe detailed description of the preferred embodiments given below, serveto explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an outdoor workingautomating system for use in agriculture according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an outdoor workingautomating system with a central control facility according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the details of the central controlfacility;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the secondembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the thirdembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A farm working automating system according to the first embodiment ofthe present invention will be described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangementof the farm working automating system, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart forexplaining the operation of the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, an alternate long and short dashed line 11indicates an agricultural implement (e.g., a rice transplanter or areaper). This agricultural implement has a GPS (Global PositioningSystem) for receiving microwaves (carrier waves) from a GPS satellite.The microwave received by this GPS antenna is applied to a GPS receiver12. The GPS receiver 12 has a measuring circuit for measuring the phaseof the received microwave.

The phase of the microwave measured by the GPS receiver 12 is applied toa differential GPS arithmetic unit 13. This differential GPS arithmeticunit 13 connected to an antenna 14 for exchanging data with respect to areference station (to be described later).

The differential GPS arithmetic unit 13 receives the phase of themicrowave supplied from the GPS receiver 12 and the phase of themicrowave detected by the reference station and received by the antenna14.

The differential GPS arithmetic unit 13 calculates the phase differencebetween the microwaves received by the reference station A and the GPSantenna of the agricultural implement 11, obtaining position data Dp1(the latitude, the longitude, and the altitude) of the agriculturalimplement 11.

Reference numeral 15 denotes an INS (Inertial Navigation System). ThisINS 15 is a device mounted on aircrafts and the like to measure avelocity, a position, and an attitude. The position data Dp1 calculatedby the differential GPS arithmetic unit 13 and position data Dp2,velocity data Dv, and attitude data Da of the agricultural implementmeasured by the INS 15 are applied to a navigation filter 16.

The navigation filter 16 is constituted by, e.g., a Kalman filter. Thetwo input position data Dp1 and Dp2 are converted into strict positiondata Dp through the navigation filter 16. That is, this position data Dpis used as the position data of the agricultural implement.

The output position data Dp from the navigation filter 16 is applied tothe (-) terminal of a comparator 17. The (+) terminal of the comparator17 receives route data Mp indicating a target route from a storage unit18 for storing the route data.

The comparator 17 compares the position data Dp of the agriculturalimplement 11 with the route data Mp and outputs a difference signal ADto a control logic 19.

The velocity data Dv and the attitude data Da output via the navigationfilter 16 are also applied to the control logic 19. The control logic 19computes an optimum control form on the basis of the input position dataDp, velocity data Dv, and attitude data Da, and outputs an acceleratorcontrol signal Sa, a brake control signal Sb, a steering control signalSs, and other control signals Sr to actuators 20 to 23.

The actuators 20 to 23 apply signals to an accelerator 24, a brake 25, asteering wheel 26, and other driving devices 27 of the agriculturalimplement 11.

The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention with theabove arrangement will be described below. As an example of agriculturalautomation, processing for automating rice reaping will be describedwith reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 2. First, the farmworking automating system is initialized (step S1). That is, thereference station A of the differential GPS performs processing formeasuring an accurate position of the reference station A (step S1).Subsequently, processing for storing the route that a rice transplantertakes during rice transplanting is performed (step S2). Morespecifically, the rice transplanter is moved to a rice field in whichreaping is to be automated. The rice transplanter is kept unmoved at theentrance of the rice field for several minutes, and the position of therice transplanter is measured with a precision of about 1 cm by means ofinterference measurement of the differential GPS and recorded. The ricetransplanter is then moved one meter, and its position is measuredprecisely. The current position thus obtained accurately is set as aninitial value of the INS 15. Since the INS 15 also requires an initialvalue of the attitude data of the machine, the current position data iscompared with the data measured first before the rice transplanter ismoved one meter, thereby calculating the direction the rice transplanterpoints. When the initial setting is finished, a worker rides in the ricetransplanter and starts rice transplanting. On the basis of the positiondata measured by the INS 15, the route that the rice transplanter takesis recorded at appropriate intervals and stored in an external storagedevice, such as a floppy disk. During the rice transplanting, the ricetransplanter is stopped at given intervals to measure its preciseposition by means of the interference measurement of the differentialGPS, thereby correcting the drift of the INS 15.

Processing for performing reaping by using a reaper will be describedbelow. First, whether the stripe number of the reaper equals that of therice transplanter is checked (step S3). If it is determined in step S3that the stripe number of the reaper equals that of the ricetransplanter, the floppy disk used in step S2 is inserted into a floppydisk unit of the rice reaper. The route that the rice transplanter took,which is stored in this floppy disk, is transferred to the storage unit18 shown in FIG. 1.

The rice reaper is moved to the entrance of the rice field (step S5). Inthis case, the rice reaper can be moved without being attended becausethe position of the entrance of the rice field and the route to theentrance are also stored in the floppy disk.

The rice reaper is then moved according to the route indicated by thedata stored in the storage unit 18, starting rice reaping. At thispoint, the route that the reaper is to trace is given as discretepoints, so a proper interpolating method is used to obtain a continuousroute.

Rice reaping is performed in this manner, and then collection isperformed (step S6). In this case, the reaper itself may store rice init if it is a large-size reaper, or may be so programmed as to move riceautomatically to a collecting place when a proper amount of rice isstored in it. That is, when an appropriate amount of reaped rice isstored, the rice is placed on the rice field, and the position where therice is placed is measured precisely so that an unmanned transporter canpick it up later. Since the location where the reaped rice is placed canbe detected accurately, collection can be performed reliably andefficiently.

When rice reaping in one rice field is finished in this manner, the flowadvances to the next practice (step S7). That is, the reaper moves forrice reaping in another rice field.

If there is no any other practice, the processing is finished.

If NO is determined in step S3, i.e., if it is determined in step S3that the stripe number of the reaper differs from that of the ricetransplanter, a working route of the reaper is formed. That is, therange within which rice is transplanted is determined from the data ofthe working route stored in the floppy disk during rice transplanting,and the reaping route is set by using a rule (an algorithm obtained bystipulating the know-how of farmers) for setting a procedure of reaping(step S9).

Thereafter, the processing from step S5 is similarly performed.

If there is no central control facility, the rice reaping automatingprocessing is performed as described above.

An outdoor working automating system with a central control facilityaccording to the second embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. This embodiment will beexplained by taking automatic rice reaping as an example. FIG. 3 is ablock diagram showing the arrangement of an agricultural implement whenthere is a central control facility. The same reference numerals as inFIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 3, and a detailed descriptionthereof will be omitted. Route data stored in a storage unit 18 can betransmitted from an antenna 18a to an antenna 47a of the central controlfacility.

Referring to FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes a monitor unit. Thismonitor unit 31 comprises an agricultural implement state monitor 32 formonitoring the remaining fuel amount, the failure, the watertemperature, and the oil temperature of the agricultural implement, amonitor camera 33 which is, e.g., an infrared camera for photographingan image surrounding the agricultural implement, and a weatherinformation sensor 34 for detecting weather information. The outputsfrom the agricultural implement state monitor 32, the monitor camera 33,and the weather information sensor 34 are applied to a data framegenerator 35. The data frame generator 35 generates a data frame on thebasis of the remaining fuel amount, the failure, the water temperature,and the oil temperature of the agricultural implement output from theagricultural implement state monitor 32, the image surrounding theagricultural implement photographed by the monitor camera 33, and theoutput weather information from the weather information sensor 34, andoutputs the data frame to a transmitter 36.

The transmitter 36 is connected to an antenna 37. The data frame istransmitted from the antenna 37 to an antenna 48a of the central controlfacility to be described below.

The detailed arrangement of the central control facility will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 4, referencenumeral 41 denotes a reference station of a differential GPS. Thereference station 41 is connected to a GPS antenna 43 and an antenna 44for exchanging data with respect to an agricultural implement 11. Thecentral control facility controls the entire farm working automatingsystem and comprises a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits. Thismicrocomputer has functions given in blocks generally denoted byreference numeral 41. That is, the microcomputer has a farming orderdecision algorithm 45, a farming tool assign algorithm 46, a farmingroute generation algorithm 47, and a monitor data arranging function 48.The farming order decision algorithm 45 decides an order of, e.g.,transplanting or reaping. The farming tool assign algorithm 46determines a rice field to which a given farming tool is to be assignedon the basis of the order of transplanting, reaping, or the like decidedby the farming order decision algorithm 45. The farming route generationalgorithm 47 generates a farming route on the basis of the dataindicating a rice field to which a given farming tool is to be assigned,which is determined by the farming tool assign algorithm 46, and ricefield data, agricultural implement driving route data of the last yearor two years before, and farming route decision know-how, all of whichare stored in a storage means 50. The monitor data arranging function 48receives the outputs transmitted from the agricultural implement statemonitor 32, the monitor camera 33, and the weather information sensor 34of the monitor unit 31, and arranges the monitor data. The monitor datais supplied to the farming tool assign algorithm 46 and a display 49.

The operation of the second embodiment of the present invention with theabove arrangement will be described below. As an example of agriculturalautomation, processing for automating rice reaping will be describedwith reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 5. First, the farmworking automating system is initialized (step S11). That is, referencestation 42 of the differential GPS performs processing for measuring anaccurate position of the reference station 42 (step S11). The startposition of the agricultural implement is then stored accurately.Subsequently, processing for storing the route that a rice transplantertakes during rice transplanting is performed (step S12). Morespecifically, the rice transplanter is moved to a rice field in whichreaping is to be automated. The rice transplanter is kept unmoved at theentrance of the rice field for several minutes, and the position of therice transplanter is measured with a precision of about 1 cm by means ofinterference measurement of the differential GPS and recorded. The ricetransplanter is then moved one meter, and its position is measuredprecisely. The current position thus obtained accurately is set as aninitial value of an INS 15. Since the INS 15 also requires an initialvalue of the attitude data of the machine, the current position data iscompared with the data measured first before the rice transplanter ismoved one meter, thereby calculating the direction the rice transplanterpoints. When the initial setting is finished, a worker rides in the ricetransplanter and starts rice transplanting. On the basis of the positiondata measured by the INS 15, the route that the rice transplanter takesis recorded at appropriate intervals and stored in an external storagedevice, such as a floppy disk, or transmitted to the central controlfacility 41. During the rice transplanting, the rice transplanter isstopped at given intervals to measure its precise position by means ofthe interference measurement of the differential GPS, thereby correctingthe drift of the INS 15.

Processing for performing reaping by using a reaper will be describedbelow. First, whether the stripe number of the reaper equals that of therice transplanter is checked (step S13). If it is determined in step S3that the stripe number of the reaper equals that of the ricetransplanter, the route that the rice transplanter took, which istransmitted from the central control facility 41, is received andtransferred to the storage unit 18 shown in FIG. 1.

The rice reaper is moved to the entrance of the rice field (step S15).In this case, the rice reaper can be moved without being attendedbecause the position of the entrance of the rice field and the route tothe entrance are also stored in the floppy disk.

The rice reaper is then moved according to the route indicated by thedata stored in the storage unit 18, starting rice reaping. At thispoint, the route that the reaper is to trace is given as discretepoints, so a proper interpolating method is used to obtain a continuousroute.

Rice reaping is performed in this manner, and then collection isperformed (step S16). In this case, the reaper itself may store rice init if it is a large-size reaper, or may be so programmed as to move riceautomatically to a collecting place when a proper amount of rice isstored in it.

When rice reaping in one rice field is finished in this manner, the flowadvances to the next practice (step S17). That is, the reaper moves forrice reaping in another rice field.

During execution of the above practice, the following processing isperformed by interrupting the practice (step S18). That is, the reapertransmits the surrounding conditions (weather and image data) and thestates (the states of a fuel and a lubricating oil, and various failuremonitor data) of the machine to the central control facility 41 whileperforming the practice. On the basis of these data (the weatherconditions or the monitor data of the machine) and the image (obstacle),the practice is interrupted automatically or in accordance with thejudgment of an operator for the purpose of refueling, repair, or thelike. For example, refueling can be executed automatically by accuratelymeasuring the position of an oil station beforehand and giving thereaper the route data indicating the route to the oil station. After therefueling, the reaper is returned to the farm practice. If there is notany other practice, the processing is finished (step S19).

If NO is determined in step S13, i.e., if it is determined in step S13that the stripe number of the reaper differs from that of the ricetransplanter, a working route of the reaper is formed. That is, therange within which rice is transplanted is determined from the data ofthe working route stored in the floppy disk during rice transplanting,and the reaping route is set by using a rule (an algorithm obtained bystipulating the know-how of farmers) for setting a procedure of reaping(step S20).

Thereafter, the processing from step 15 is similarly performed.

As described above, rice reaping can be automated when the centralcontrol facility is present.

The third embodiment of the present invention will be described belowwith reference to FIG. 6. This third embodiment relates to an automatingsystem designed to automate rice transplanting. The block diagrams ofthis rice transplanting automating system are identical with those shownin FIGS. 3 and 4, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The operation of the rice transplanting automating system will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 6. First, whether route data of ricetransplanting in the last year already exists is checked (S21). If NO isdetermined in step S21, i.e., if it is determined in step S21 that thereis no route data of the last year, rice field shape data is formed (stepS32). That is, since it is assumed in this third embodiment that acentral control facility 41 is present, a relative position with respectto a reference station 42 is measured by a differential GPS. Morespecifically, a position measuring apparatus (a composite apparatus ofthe differential GPS and an INS) is moved to a rice field to bemeasured. The position measuring apparatus is kept unmoved at theentrance of the rice field for several minutes, and the position of theapparatus is measured with a precision of about 1 cm by means ofinterference measurement of the differential GPS and recorded. Theposition measuring apparatus is then moved one meter, and its positionis measured precisely. The current position thus obtained accurately isset as an initial value of an INS. Since the INS also requires aninitial value of the attitude data of the machine, the current positiondata is compared with the data measured first before the positionmeasuring apparatus is moved one meter, thereby calculating thedirection the position measuring apparatus points. When the initialsetting is finished, the position measuring apparatus is moved, forexample, around the rice field in one circle to start measuring the ricefield. On the basis of the position data measured by the INS, the routethat the position measuring apparatus takes is recorded at appropriateintervals and transmitted to the central control facility. During themeasurement, the position measuring apparatus is stopped at givenintervals to measure its precise position by means of the interferencemeasurement of the differential GPS, thereby correcting the drift of theINS. If the shape of the rice field (plowed field) is not rectangular,the shape is approximated to a polygon.

If there is no central control facility 41, the shape of the rice field(plowed field) is measured by using an appropriate metering instrument,such as a GPS receiver. Also in this case, the measurement is performedby using the position measuring apparatus combining the differential GPSand the INS, and the measurement data is recorded in an external storageunit, such as a floppy disk, incorporated in the position measuringapparatus.

Subsequently, rice transplanting route data is generated (step S33).That is, since the shape of the rice field (plowed field) is alreadydetermined, the rice transplanting route data (a position data row to betransmitted as a command to the rice transplanter) is generated byapplying an appropriate rule.

The flow then advances to step S34 and the subsequent steps to performrice transplanting. First, the rice transplanter is started (step S34).That is, the rice transplanter set as described above is so moved as tostart rice transplanting. If rice transplanting is to be performed bycontrolling rice transplanters in a plurality of rice fields by thecentral control facility 41, the central control facility 41 determinesa rice field to which a given rice transplanter is assigned, anddesignates each rice transplanter.

Unattended rice transplanting is then performed (step S35). That is, therice transplanter is operated to perform rice transplanting along therice transplanting route in the last year or the newly generated ricetransplanting route in accordance with the data transmitted from thecentral control facility 41. At this point, the rice transplanting routedata (command) is given as discrete values. If, therefore, continuousroute data is necessary, the discrete route data is converted intocontinuous route data by using a proper interpolating method.

Subsequently, the practice is interrupted (step S36). In this case,monitoring of the states (the remaining fuel amount, the oiltemperature, and the failure) of the rice transplanter and monitoring ofthe weather conditions are the same as those explained in the secondembodiment. Therefore, the practices are interrupted and restored atappropriate timings on the basis of these data.

When the rice transplanting is finished, the processing of the centralcontrol facility 41 is also ended (step S37).

Although automation of rice transplanting has been described above, theabove system is also applicable to rice reaping using a rice reaper, orplowing or puddling and reveling using a tractor.

Note that weeding can also be automated by storing positions at whichrice is transplanted during rice transplanting and weeding plants atpositions where no rice is transplanted.

Furthermore, in forestry, the positions of individual trees may bestored by using a GPS receiver during tree planting, thereby mowingplants at positions where no trees are planted by using an unmannedmower. In this case, it is also possible to automatically trim adjacenttrees by moving a robot for moving a trimming robot on the basis of thetree position data already stored.

In the above embodiments, the reference station is provided to measurethe position by using the differential GPS. However, the position may bemeasured by using a regular GPS navigation method without providing anyreference station. Furthermore, the navigation method is not limited tothe GPS navigation but may be another satellite navigation.

The present invention can be applied to reaping of crops, such as wheat,as well as rice reaping.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details, and representative devices shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An outdoor working automating system comprising;arice reaper including position detecting means for detecting a currentposition, and control means for controlling the position of said ricereaper so that the current position detected by said position detectingmeans traces a route data; a rice transplanter including positiondetecting means for detecting a current position, and storage means forstoring the current position detected by said position detecting means;and means for causing said external storage means to store a route thatsaid rice transplanter takes in rice transplanting, and causing saidrice reaper to perform rice reaping automatically by using the positiondata stored in said storage means as said route data of said ricetransplanter.
 2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said positiondetecting means detects a position by receiving radio waves from a GPSsatellite.
 3. An outdoor working automating system comprising;a ricereaper including position detecting means for detecting a currentposition, control means for controlling the position of said rice reaperso that the current position detected by said position detecting meanstraces a route data, and transmitting/receiving means for performingdata transmission/reception to/from a central control facility; a ricetransplanter including position detecting means for detecting a currentposition, and transmitting/receiving means for performing datatransmission/reception to/from said central control facility; a centralcontrol facility including transmitting/receiving means for performingdata transmission/reception, a control unit for systematicallycontrolling one or a plurality of rice transplanting and reapingoperations, and storage means for storing various data; and means fortransmitting a route that said rice transplanter takes in ricetransplanting to said central control facility to cause said storagemeans of said central control facility to store the route, and causingsaid rice reaper to perform rice reaping automatically by transmittingthe position data stored in said storage means to said rice reaper assaid route data of said rice reaper.
 4. A system according to claim 3,wherein said position detecting means detects a position by receivingradio waves from a GPS satellite.
 5. A system according to claim 3,wherein said central control facility has a control function for storingrice transplanting information of a plurality of rice fields andcontrolling a plurality of reapers to operate simultaneously orcontinuously in said plurality of rice fields, thereby performing ricereaping.
 6. An outdoor working automating system comprising:anagricultural implement including position detecting means for detectinga current position, and control means for controlling the position ofsaid agricultural implement so that the current position detected bysaid position detecting means traces predetermined route data; and meansfor measuring the shape of a rice field in advance to automaticallygenerate rice field shape data as the route data, and causing saidagricultural implement to automatically perform agricultural operationsby controlling the position of said agricultural implementautomatically.
 7. A system according to claim 6, wherein said positiondetecting means detects a position by receiving radio waves from a GPSsatellite.
 8. A system according to claim 6, wherein said agriculturalimplement is one of a rice transplanter, a rice reaper, and anagricultural implement used before rice transplanting.
 9. An outdoorworking automating system comprising:an agricultural implement includingposition detecting means for detecting a current position, control meansfor controlling the position of said agricultural implement so that thecurrent position detected by said position detecting means tracespredetermined route data, and transmitting/receiving means forperforming data transmission/reception; and a central control facilityincluding transmitting/receiving means for performing datatransmission/reception, a control unit for systematically controllingrice transplanting, and storage means for storing various data, whereinthe shapes of a plurality of rice fields are measured in advance, andsaid central control facility includes means for transmitting the ricefield shape data as the route data to a plurality of agriculturalimplements to cause said agricultural implements to perform agriculturaloperations in said plurality of rice fields automatically.
 10. A systemaccording to claim 9, wherein said position detecting means detects aposition by receiving radio waves from a GPS satellite.
 11. A systemaccording to claim 9, wherein said agricultural implement is one of arice transplanter, a rice reaper, and an agricultural implement usedbefore rice transplanting.